Pretending
by SvF-BD02-Wedge
Summary: Kagome and Inuyasha accidently make a wish. It has a few... consequences that give our favorite hanyou more than his share of trouble. Oneshot


Pretending  
  
This is just one of those annoying ideas that just wouldn't go away no matter how long I ignored it. Read, enjoy, and review!  
  
I don't own Inuyasha  
  
*Update* I'm being forced to change all my fics into word documents due to the evilness of fanfiction.net. All of the word pad stories were really strangely spaced.  
  
Kagome sighed as she followed Inuyasha down the seemingly endless road. Inuyasha kept a fairly brutal pace up as he stomped down the road carrying Kagome's lighter that usual bag. He was in a bad mood, and for good reason (in his opinion at least). He had been waiting 'patiently' by the well for Kagome to return. She had appeared in the usual flash of pink light and had climbed out after Inuyasha had given her a piece of his mind about being late and had lifted the bag out of the well. Before Kagome could argue that she was a day EARLY she had sensed a shard nearby. Inuyasha had snatched her up along with the bag and taken off after it.  
  
The chase had gone on for three days. No matter how fast they went they couldn't seem to overtake whatever that possessed the piece of the Shikon no Tama. However, the youkai had been heading in the direction of the ocean and it was only a matter of time until it ran out of places to run. It was on the fourth day that they had caught up. Unfortunately they had gotten in time to see the neko they had been chasing, unsuccessfully, succumb to an attack by Naraku's poison bees. Before Inuyasha could try and stop them the bees and stolen the shard, leaving only a pile of bones where once was a youkai.  
  
So now there they were after a pointless goose chase across a quarter of Japan with nothing to show for their efforts on their way home. But no, it couldn't just be that could it? Inuyasha's constant running over the past days, with only short breaks to allow Inuyasha to sleep (Kagome was quite comfortable sleeping on his back ),had given him an enormous appetite. All of the food that Kagome had brought from her time had been eaten, meaning that now Inuyasha had to stop periodically to hunt for food and wait even longer for it to be cook. Normally this would only be a minor annoyance, but the new moon was a mere four days away from now and they were in the middle of nowhere.  
  
In the distance the sun was slowly sinking towards the horizon, it would be night time within two hours. Kagome sighed as she looked up into the sky. "I hope Sango and Miroku aren't looking for us." Kagome said breaking the near total silence of the day's journey. They hadn't had time to tell them where they were going and she was due back a day after they left. Inuyasha's disappearance at the same time would hopefully give the two enough clues for Sango to piece together that they had gone off after a shard. She had no faith in Miroku coming to that conclusion. No doubt he had a different, and very perverted idea in mind. Inuyasha snorted at Kagome's comment from his position in front of her, but said nothing.  
  
Kagome huffed a little. "Its not my fault that Naraku beat us to the shard." Inuyasha glanced back at her. "If you hadn't been late we would have gotten there first." he grumbled. Kagome turned her head away and folded her arms, one of her hands lightly touching the shard she carried around her neck. Really, sometimes she thought Inuyasha enjoyed arguing with her. "He always get this when it gets close to the new moon." she mumbled to herself, trying to keep from being drawn into a fight. She wasn't counting on Inuyasha hearing though and he was almost instantly in front of her, one of his hands lightly gripping her own that held the Shikon shard.  
  
She had obviously struck a nerve judging by the angry look he was giving her. "Don't talk about things you don't understand wench." he growled. "You have no idea what it's like to be a hanyou and to lose the only thing that protects you from both humans and youkai." Kagome stared into his eyes. The anger was still there, but there seemed to be a glimmer of something else, but she didn't know what. Inuyasha keh'd and turned his gaze away. "I wish you could see what its like to be me." He muttered, the anger drained from his voice. Kagome let her other hand rest on Inuyasha's that was still clasped on to her other one. "I wish I could too." she said softly her voice full of compassion.  
  
Inuyasha's face started to gain a light blush as he realized the close proximity they were from each other as well as the fact that he was more or less holding Kagome's hand. He started to pull away when a flash of pink surprised him. He turned back towards Kagome who was standing there, her eyes wide with surprise and a bit of fear as the pink light that was originating from inside their combined hands grew in strength. "Inuyasha-" Kagome began as the light started to engulf her. Inuyasha felt frozen, as if all of the energy in his body was being sucked out through his hand. All he could do was watch and mentally shout 'Kagome!' as she was lost in pink light.  
  
The light started to dim after a few seconds and whatever had been keeping him from moving released him. Inuyasha yanked his hand away, clutching it with his other one as he took a step back. His panicked gaze swept across Kagome's figure as it returned to view. "Kagome are you alri-" his inquiry was left unfinished as he noticed the changes to the young miko's features. Little had changed. The main difference were the two black triangle ears now sticking straight up on the top of her skull. Her nails and teeth had grown slightly more pointed as well, in fact Kagome looked more or less human. But Inuyasha could tell with a knot in his stomach that those weren't the only changes to Kagome.  
  
Inside of her demon blood now flowed along with her human blood, he could smell it already. Kagome looked at her sharpened claws with amazement as it dawned on her what had happened. Inuyasha searched her face but found none of the horror or disgust that most humans showed when they saw a hanyou or demon, let alone BE one. Kagome turned her gaze up towards Inuyasha. Her eyes were starting to fill with confusion and a bit of fear. Inuyasha could hear as her heartbeat started to increase in speed, pumping hanyou blood through her veins. "Inuyasha.." Kagome said. "Kagome! are you all right??" he repeated stepping a little closer to her as he dropped the yellow bag off of his shoulder.  
  
Kagome winced at how loud Inuyasha's voice sounded. She started hearing noises all around her. The cracking of twigs, the chirping of birds, the grunts and growls of various animals and youkai. She took a step backwards and winced at the loud cracking noise underneath her. The sounds were intense, but nothing compared to the smells. She could smell everything. All the smells around her hit her at once. The smell of spilt Ramen from her bag, the pine scent of the forest, animals, youkai, and Inuyasha as well. Kagome's eyes darted everywhere as she desperately tried to pinpoint where all the smells and sounds were coming from. Her heartbeat was like a cannon and it was getting faster. Kagome stepped back several more feet.  
  
Inuyasha could smell the anxiety and fear radiating off of her now. He could tell that she was panicking from her jerky movements. The sudden blast of smells and sounds was overwhelming her. "Kagome calm down, I'm right here. Its alright." Inuyasha said as softly as possible as he quietly stepped towards her. His reassurances were lost to Kagome among the overwhelming sounds. In the distance a wolf howled. Closer the scraping of claws against tree bark rang in her ears. The gentle whoosh of wind as it blew over grass sounded like non stop thunder. The smell of blood from a nearby deer that had been killed assaulted her nose. It was too much for her. With a cry of anguish Kagome fell to her knees as she pressed her hands where her ears used to be as she tried to block out the sounds. Kagome could feel tears starting to run down her cheeks.  
  
Her heartbeat was the worst. It continued to beat faster and faster, louder and louder until that was all she heard. The rapid cannon fire from her chest blocked out everything else. Louder and louder it became, driving Kagome almost to insanity. The last thing Kagome remembered was seeing red.  
  
************************************************************************ When Kagome fell to the ground Inuyasha gave up trying to approach her slowly and rushed to her side. "Kagome!" he yelled as he grabbed her shoulders and shook her gently. Kagome didn't even seem to notice he was there as she pressed her hands to the sides of her skull, trying to cover ears that no longer existed. Tears were running down her face as she stared at the ground in a way that suggested she wasn't even seeing with her eyes anymore as her too human mind tried to block out the overload her new demon senses were causing. Inuyasha felt the urge to hold her close and comfort her. He would have if she hadn't suddenly stiffened and raised her head to look at him.  
  
Inuyasha's mouth opened agape at what he saw. Where usually there was kindness and happiness in her eyes, it had been replaced with a more feral, primitive intelligence. Her eye color had changed to a purplish color as well, but that was not the most disturbing part. What was disturbing was the way she was now gazing at him, hunger filled her eyes. With a guttural growl, Kagome jumped backwards several feet and landed with her knees bent and her claws dangling just above the ground. She lifted her nose and sniffed for a few seconds, her ears twitching back and forth before her gaze turned sharply towards Inuyasha again. Kagome started to growl.  
  
************************************************************************  
  
The first thing 'Kagome' noticed was that something was touching her. That was not good; to be touched was to be in danger. She stiffened and jerked her head up to see the eyes of another. He smelt of anxiety and fear. Kagome growled and leapt backwards onto her haunches as she tried to get her bearings. With a few twitches of the ear and sniffs Kagome knew that somehow she was in a forest near an ocean. It didn't matter to her how she got here, she was there. All that mattered was following her base instincts, her desires as a youkai, the most prominent at the moment being hunger. She could tell she hadn't eaten for some time. It didn't matter why she hadn't, she hadn't. With another sniff she located the nearest possible source for food and turned towards it.  
  
It was the something that had been touching her. It was a inuyoukai like herself. He hadn't run off when she had growled her warning. It didn't matter why, it saved her the trouble of chasing him down. She started to growl. The youkai seemed slightly taken aback by her growling, as if he was shocked she was. Kagome didn't care, he would be food in a few moments. She leapt at him her claws poised to cut him down. With surprising speed he jumped backwards as her claws came down, cutting deep gashes into the ground. "Damn it Kagome snap out of it!" Inuyasha shouted taking up a defensive pose. Kagome didn't understand what his growls and grunts mean, nor did she care. He was still food. She leapt again with a growl.  
  
This time the youkai didn't try to dodge, instead he caught her by the arm and forced to her to the ground. He quickly pinned her, his superior strength keeping her in place besides her struggling. The end result was Inuyasha sitting on top of Kagome pinning her arms while he gazed into her eyes as he continued to bark and growl gibberish. Kagome's instincts were back into play. This male was obviously not prey. He was much stronger than she was. Prey, however, was not the only category he could be placed in. Her instincts deemed that this male was worthy of being her mate and his strength would be passed onto her pups, which was what Kagome cared about. It had been decided, now all Kagome had to was convince him. She smelt no other female on him besides her, which was good. Kagome didn't care why she could smell herself on him even though supposedly she had just met him, it didn't matter. Only instincts mattered...  
  
************************************************************************ "Kagome! snap out of it!" Inuyasha commanded the hanyou below him. She was unresponsive, simply staring at him with a cool predatory gaze and occasionally sniffing. Inuyasha gave a growl of frustration. There had to be a way to get her back. His thoughts were interrupted by a peculiar scent coming from Kagome. It seemed to wrap around his mind, numbing it. He noticed she was growling seductively below him. 'Kagome.' he thought as his grip loosened on her enough that she was able to push herself up and start nuzzling and nipping his neck, her claws gently holding onto the back of his waist. Her growling never stopped and the pheromone she was producing seemed to increase in strength. 'Kagome, she wants me.' he thought dumbly. 'She wants to be with me, she wants to be mine.' Inuyasha tilted his head to intercept Kagome's lips.  
  
The contact lasted for a few moments before Kagome, not seeing the point of the kiss playfully nipped his bottom lip before returning to her nuzzling and biting. That shocked Inuyasha out of his delusion. He pulled her head away by grabbing her neck with one of his hands and looked into her eyes. They were warmer, more friendly than they were moments before, and definitely inviting, but it wasn't Kagome looking at him with those expressive eyes, it was a youkai. This WASN'T Kagome that was doing this to him like he had thought, like he had wanted perhaps. Inuyasha pushed her back down and pulled away blushing slightly at what had just happened. 'Kagome' gave an inquisitive growl as she caught herself by sticking her arms behind her and Inuyasha returned it with an angry one of his own that clearly said he wasn't interested. ************************************************************************ Confusion filled Kagome. She didn't understand what had just happened. The male had been responding to her well enough, and then he had rejected her. There was only one explanation for this, the male had determined she was an unworthy mate. It didn't matter why he had, it was bad. If she wasn't the predator, nor mating material, her instincts told her she could only be one other thing. PREY.  
  
Fear filled her as she sprang away from the now dangerous male. She gave out a loud bark trying to intimidate the male into thinking she was not food. The male didn't buy it as he slowly tried to get close to her. To Kagome this was a predatory tactic. Her instincts told her he was stalking her, like any hunter would its prey. Kagome, however, would not be food today.  
  
************************************************************************ Inuyasha could smell fear coming from Kagome now as she leapt away and Inuyasha groaned mentally as she gave out a bark. 'Great. Now I'm going to have to catch her.' he grumbled inwardly. "Kagome, it's me. Come here I wont hurt you." he said gently trying to appeal to her human side. He slowly stepped towards her, calculating just how long it would take for him to cross the distance in a leap. He couldn't let her get away, he had a feeling Sango and the others wouldn't appreciate having to chase a now much stronger and faster Kagome around Japan. Kagome gave another growl and stepped back as her eyes darted around.  
  
Then Kagome did something unexpected. She leapt forward and swung her claws. Inuyasha ducked and started to turn. Kagome, however, hadn't been aiming for his head, but the tree a few feet behind him. Her claws slashed through it and the tree came down towards Inuyasha's head. Inuyasha turned just in time to catch it before it crushed him into the ground. He gave a grunt of effort as he fought against the crushing weight of the tree. Even with his legs braced he slid back a few feet. "Damn it." He growled as he struggled with the tree and tried to keep track of the direction Kagome was running. With a growl he started to push back at the tree. "Even... as a demon" he growled out his muscles straining against the particularly large and heavy tree. "SHE'S SMARTER THAN ME!" he roared. With a last grunt of effort he heaved the tree away. It crashed against several others and Inuyasha winced at the noise before he took off after the rapidly disappearing Kagome through the woods.  
  
Inuyasha leapt into the trees, bounding forward after the girl. Several times he lost sight of her as she sped through the forest, but slowly he gained on her. When he was a few feet behind the fleeing female, he landed on the next tree and pushed off with all of his might towards her. She gave out a noise of surprise as he collided with her before she hit the ground face first, Inuyasha on top of her. Inuyasha winced at how hard she had hit the ground, but it had been necessary and she could sit him after he had figured out how to wake her up, if she remembered any of this. Besides, with her new hanyou body it shouldn't have hurt too much and any damage would quickly heal.  
  
Kagome struggled underneath him as she tried to get away kicking, scratching, and biting the whole time, along with a whole lot of growling. Inuyasha racked his brain as he tried to figure out how to calm her down. He was stronger than her, but he couldn't pin her forever. He winced as one of her claws slashed part of his wrist and he found himself growling instinctively. Inuyasha's eyes widened. He realized what he had to do. He didn't like it one bit, but he could see no other choice. He was going to have to listen to something that he had fought and ignored for most of his life for fear of hurting the few people he cared about, instinct. They were there, always sitting in the back of his mind pestering him to do one thing or another. It seemed that they were finally about to pay off. Inuyasha took a deep breath and let his mind clear.  
  
************************************************************************ Kagome struggled desperately against her attacker. Her instincts urged her to escape before he stopped toying with her and she became food. Just then she felt the male give a bark from above her. It was no ordinary bark given during battle or when frustrated. Her instincts knew that this bark was given by one youkai demanding submission of the other during mating. There had to be a dominant and submissive mate, that was just how it was. Kagome didn't care why, her instincts told her to surrender as submissive, which was much better than being eaten. Kagome didn't know why the male had changed his mind. Nor did she know why he had chased her and caught her to demonstrate his superiority when she had already accepted it. It didn't matter, he had. Kagome let herself go limp under the male, her male now. The male rumbled his approval before leaning down and catching one of her ears in his mouth. He bit down hard, though not hard enough to cleave it off. Kagome gave out a yelp but didn't resist. It was a mark, indicating that she was the submissive mate.  
  
Kagome didn't know why he had picked her ear to mark her instead of a less painful place, but it didn't matter. It would heal soon enough and there would be nothing left to show that he had bitten her there, unless he chose to bite her again. The mark was simply a symbol, the first step in mating. Nothing more than a claim really besides determining who was the dominant and who the submissive mate. This was why Kagome was confused when the male pulled away from her instead of continuing to the real mating. It didn't matter why he had chosen not to; perhaps he was tired and wished to continue when he was full of stamina. She could smell that he had recently exerted himself for a very long period. Whatever it was he it was his decision and she would follow him like the submissive mate should until he chose to continue.  
  
************************************************************************ Inuyasha quickly got up from on top of Kagome blushing and clearing his head of the things his instincts had told him to do next. He knew, instinctively, that she would now follow him to the ends of the earth willingly, just like the real Kagome would. Inuyasha winced a little inwardly at the comparison as he watched as the hanyou Kagome got up off the ground. He felt slightly guilty about the claiming mark. It seemed like he was both betraying her by claiming another and claiming her unfairly at the same time, as she didn't know what was going on.  
  
Thankfully, the mark wasn't permanent and would disappear within a day or so of being a hanyou, leaving no trace of this. He felt a little bit of disappointment at this, but Inuyasha pushed these thoughts away, he had long pondered his feelings for Kagome and still didn't have an exact answer. Now was definitely not the time, he needed to figure out how to get her back, then he could feel guilty and maybe a little giddy at what he had done. As he turned he noticed something pink lying on the ground. It was the shard of the Shikon. Thinking nothing of it he picked it up and tucked it into his kimono before heading back towards where he had left the bag. Kagome followed a step behind him and Inuyasha glanced at her. "You're more trouble than you're worth." he grumbled halfheartedly. Kagome simply cocked her head slightly to the side not understanding his words. "Keh never mind."  
  
They walked in silence the rest of the way back. When they had arrived Inuyasha plopped down next to the bag. Kagome sat next to him, slightly closer than Inuyasha was comfortable with but he let it go. At least she wasn't trying to eat him. He sighed and pulled out the shard from his kimono. "This is all your fault." he grumbled as he stared deeply into it. Once he would have swallowed it right away, but now he would gladly give it up if this bloody mess would go away. 'I didn't think the shard had the power to grant wishes.' he thought. It must have had something to do with Kagome being a miko and he a hanyou and the fact that it had drawn strength off of them, or at least him, to cause this to happen. He continued to gaze at the shard lost in thought as his 'mate' watched him.  
  
************************************************************************ Kagome watched her mate fiddle with some shiny object. She didn't care what the object was or what it did, it was her mate's. Her mate. She had accepted him as dominant and would obey him until the time that she was stronger and then she would become dominant. But for now she would obey. He in turn, would protect her and provide everything she required. That was how it went, how it always went. She didn't care why. What she cared about right now was food. She was hungry and it was time that he live up to his part of being mates.  
  
************************************************************************ A sharp yip startled Inuyasha out of his thoughts. He turned to see Kagome looking at him expectantly. "What do you want?" Kagome replied with a series of insistent growls. Inuyasha growled in frustration not comprehending what she was saying and not wanting to allow his instincts to take control again for fear he might do something that they would both later regret. So he just simply stared at her hoping she would give him another clue. The clue came in the form of Kagome's stomach growling. Realization dawned on Inuyasha. "Fine, food. I'll get you some." Inuyasha grumbled getting up and putting the Shikon shard back into his kimono. "Wait here wench." he instructed before heading towards the woods to hunt. He stopped when he heard a rustling behind him. He turned to see Kagome getting up to follow. He growled in frustration again and pushed her down into a sitting position again. "Wait here." he said firmly before heading off. Kagome didn't follow him this time but she did give off a low pitched whine when he disappeared into the forest.  
  
************************************************************************ Kagome was in turmoil. Her instincts were warring with each other. Her mate had left her alone to go off she assumed to hunt. Mates never left each other. They hunted together, slept together, fought together, everything. For all intents and purposes mates were one. However, he had physically told her to stay put. She was to obey him, but she was supposed to stay with him as well. She didn't know what to do. Another part of her, one that didn't have anything to do with instinct, told her it was alright to wait here for Inuyasha. She ignored this part of her. She didn't know what an Inuyasha was nor why she should wait for it. She didn't care, it didn't matter. Being near her mate mattered, obeying her mate mattered. Kagome let out a distressed whine.  
  
She was still struggling with the paradox when she smelt him approaching. She watched him as he appeared carrying a now dead deer on his shoulder. He sat down beside her (or the bag depending on who's point of view) and started digging through the yellow thing beside him. Part of her knew it was called a bag but she ignored it once again. She rested against his shoulder and nuzzled it, emitting a happy growl. Her mate froze at first but then relaxed a little and continued digging through the bag. Finding whatever he was looking for he set it aside and began skinning the deer he had caught for her with his claws.  
  
************************************************************************ Inuyasha dug through Kagome's bag looking for the fire starter she used occasionally. It was definitely much easier that starting one manually. He felt Kagome nuzzle his shoulder and growl at him, causing him to blush. He shook it off and continued to search for the fire starting thing. Ending their embarrassingly close proximity wasn't worth chasing her down again. Finally he found it and set it aside as he took the deer of his shoulder and starting to skin it rather sloppily with his claws. He seriously doubted Kagome would be very picky with the meat in this form and he didn't mind it either. Once he had gotten most of the fur off Inuyasha stood up and moved a little bit away. He gathered dead wood from nearby (some of it from the tree Kagome had dropped on him) and started a fire. It was probably a good thing to start one even if they weren't hungry as it would soon be dark out. The fact that Kagome was a hanyou and wouldn't need the extra warmth didn't occur to him.  
  
Inuyasha quickly set up a spit to roast the meat on and then sat back down near the bag. Kagome scooted a little closer to the fire as she stared at the roasting meat with a mixture of curiosity, horror, and hunger. Inuyasha stared at the miko turned hanyou for a while as she sat there as he tried to figure out just why Kagome had lost control after the shard had turned her into a hanyou. He closed his eyes after he had decided he had pieced together a decent explanation. Kagome had been human all her life. Unlike Inuyasha, she had never experienced the powerful youkai instincts. She was unable to resist their power because she hadn't been conditioned from child birth to resist them. The most powerful demons and hanyous were those in human form and those that were not ruled by instinct. Inuyasha had had help with the Tetsusaiga containing his blood.  
  
He had still experienced his youkai sides instincts, they had simply been weakened. Now that the seal only worked when he had the Tetsusaiga with him, Inuyasha had occasionally experienced the full power of his instincts. He could still for the most part resist them, except for when he was in serious danger. Inuyasha nodded a little. Yes that sounded like a reasonable explanation. He smirked a little. Kagome would be proud of him for figuring all of this out on his own. Inuyasha opened his eyes just in time to see Kagome in the process of snatching the half cooked meat from the spit. Kagome would probably not appreciate him letting her eat near raw meat, however, when he figured out how to get her back. Inuyasha felt a surge of instincts telling him how he should react. He allowed them to take control.  
  
************************************************************************ Kagome sat there staring as the meat her mate had worked to get her was slowly roasted to an inedible substance. She looked at him. He had his eyes closed. She glanced back at the meat as it sat there taunting her. Perhaps he had put it there as a test? She could have it if she could get it away from the fire maybe. He hadn't told her not to take it so it was reasonable enough. Kagome crept closer to the meat. She raised her arms and grabbed the part of the deer farthest from the fire. She was about to lift it off when she heard a bark behind her. She was jerked backwards into her mates lap. She could hear his growl of disapproval at her actions and felt his teeth gently holding onto one of her ears. Apparently she had been wrong. She allowed herself to relax against him again in submission and he released her ear from the hold. He gently pushed her beside him again where she watched him carefully still not understanding why he was allowing the fire to destroy the meat. Every so often she gave a yip or growl of annoyance as she told him she was hungry. As the meat stayed in the fire longer her sounds of protest increased in occurrence.  
  
************************************************************************ Inuyasha shook his head after he released Kagome from his grip. His instincts had been more powerful than usual, and that worried him some. Was it because Kagome was supposedly his mate now? 'She's not my mate.' he told himself not that his instincts cared. 'This is all pretend.' he thought. 'We are only pretending to be mates, we aren't really mates.' That relaxed him a little. They were just pretending, it would all be over hopefully soon. Beside him Kagome gave a yip of protest over the meat. Inuyasha ignored her.  
  
Inuyasha's brow twitched in annoyance as Kagome made another high pitched yip. He knew what she wanted. It was a battle of wills, in some ways similar to the fights he and Kagome had. He was determined to win this one. Silly since this wasn't the Kagome he had fought with so often. Twenty yips later, however, Inuyasha wasn't so determined. "Gah! Fine take it you stupid wench!" Inuyasha cried getting up and grabbing the still slightly undercooked meat. He ripped a piece off for himself and handed the rest to her.  
  
Kagome quickly grabbed it and began devouring it, with table manner skills similar to Inuyasha's, meaning none. Inuyasha had to laugh at this. Kagome would faint if she saw her self eating like this. Kagome looked at him for a moment, chunks of meat covering her face, before continuing to eat. Inuyasha smirked to himself as he began to eat his share as well, though a little more conscientious of how he ate than usual.  
  
Kagome finished eating first. She dropped the bones to the side before cleaning herself off. Once that was done she stretched and yawned. Inuyasha finished his dinner at this point. He watched as she stretched and yawned. Sleep sounded like a good idea to him as well. Maybe if he slept on the problem he would figure out how to change Kagome back. Tossing the bones aside, Inuyasha leapt up into the nearest tree and reclined in the branch with his eyes closed. A few moments later he heard a now all too familiar whine from below. He opened an eye in annoyance to see Kagome standing below him watching expectantly. Inuyasha blushed when he realized that she wanted to sleep with him. He debated it for quite a while until Kagome gave out another whine. Inuyasha sighed as he realized no one was going to sleep unless he gave in. He grudgingly scooted over in his branch and allowed Kagome to hop up. She settled in against him with a content growl.  
  
Inuyasha watched her with one eye open as she snuggled against him. 'This is all pretend.' he told himself. 'Kagome isn't my mate.' Kagome gave out another growl of contentment and Inuyasha unwittingly smiled a little at how she looked curled up against him like this. He slowly allowed his arm to slip around her and the other to slowly stroke her hair. Kagome pressed herself even closer and the growling increased in volume. Inuyasha's smile grew. 'But it couldn't hurt to pretend.... just for a little while.' he thought before allowing sleep to take him.  
  
*********************************************************************** Late at night when the fire had burnt itself out and the two of them were deep in a comfortable sleep, something started to glow inside Inuyasha's kimono. It surrounded the two of them for several seconds before disappearing as quickly as it had appeared. The Shikon shard had done its duty.  
  
************************************************************************ As Kagome slowly regained consciousness she noticed that there was a comfortable warmth surrounding her. She gave a soft sigh and snuggled against it. It felt slightly rough. She opened her eyes to see what it was and saw red. It took her still foggy mind a few seconds to realize it was Inuyasha's kimono. After another few seconds she realized that Inuyasha was still wearing it. She blushed crimson when it hit her that she was up in a tree half laying on top of Inuyasha, who didn't seem to be minding very much. She pulled slightly away as she wondered how she had woken up before Inuyasha (maybe he's just really comfortable :P). Her movements caused the hanyou to open a sleepy eye. "Inuyasha. What happened? The last thing I remember was having claws and-" The still half asleep hanyou cut her off with by pressing a claw to her lips. "Shh." he commanded. "The shard turned you turned into a hanyou and you lost control." he murmured with a yawn before closing his eye again. Kagome could tell she was back to human now and that it would probably be best if she got down from the tree before the hanyou was awake enough to be embarrassed by their position.  
  
She started to push away so she could slid of the branch but Inuyasha's arm that was encircling her pushed her against him again. "No." he mumbled not opening his eyes. "Let me pretend... just for a little longer." he said before allowing sleep that had only partially let him go reclaimed him totally. Kagome eyes widened. 'Pretend... What does he mean?' she thought feeling her heart flutter a little as Inuyasha held her close. She felt a knot in her stomach tighten. 'Is he thinking of Kikyo?' she thought feeling tears starting to well up in her eyes. "Shhh k'gome." murmured the sleeping hanyou slowly running a claw through her hair. It felt so good, as if it was for her and no one else. 'Maybe he's not thinking of Kikyo, maybe he was still so much asleep that he didn't know what he was saying. Maybe he wants me to be like this with him.' Kagome grasped onto this thought and snuggled against him. 'Even if he isn't. I guess it would be alright if I pretend, just for a little while.' she thought with a smile.  
  
The End  
  
Well that's it =) I think I could have probably worded some parts better. Oh well. I hope you enjoyed this. Its my longest single chapter story ever and is even longer than any of my chapters from Time for a Change as well. Make sure you review and tell me what you thought! 


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